Juniors Kari Rabatin and Sarah Daniel recorded seven and six points, respectively, in three games last week, leading the women’s ice hockey team to a 3-0 record on the week. The Engineers beat MIT 10-0 and UMass-Boston 4-1 and 5-1.
Last Tuesday, RPI traveled to Cambridge, Mass. to take on the Engineers of MIT. Rensselaer completely dominated the contest, outshooting MIT by the impressive margin of 66-0.
Sophomore Katie Temple got the scoring started just 59 seconds into the game off an assist from freshman Brooke Thompson. Juniors Jennifer Onksen, Julie Welte, and Rabatin also scored first period goals to send RPI to the locker room up 4-0 at the first intermission.
In the second period, Temple and Onksen found the net again and freshman Ellen McNamara joined the scoring spree to put the Engineers up 7-0 after two periods.
Thompson recorded her first collegiate goal just over two minutes into the third period off assists from junior Julie Aho and Temple. Rabatin got her second goal of the night two and half minutes later, and Temple finished the scoring with just over six minutes remaining in the contest.
Rabatin recorded a team high four points in the game while Daniel, McNamara, Temple, Thompson, and Welte all recorded three points each for RPI.
On Saturday, the Beacons of UMass-Boston traveled to Houston Field House for the the Engineers’ home opener. Daniel got RPI on the board first, eight minutes and 44 seconds into the game. After Thompson took a charging penalty at the eight minute mark, Daniel took a pass from senior Bridget Rice and beat Beacon goaltender Amanda Boucher for her second shorthanded goal of the season. With a minute and 15 seconds left in the period, junior Allison Malcolm put the Engineers up by two going into the intermission with a power play goal that was assisted by Aho and Rabatin.
Senior Lane Dielwart put RPI up 3-0 off an assist by Thompson at the 6:13 mark of the second period. Fifty-four seconds later, Daniel put the Engineers up by four with her second goal of the game off assists by Rice and Rabatin.
Beacon Molly Norton broke junior Rosina Schiff’s shutout bid with just under seven minutes remaining when she beat Schiff off a pass from Katherine Wall.
Boucher finished with 22 saves, while Schiff had 12.
Sunday, the two teams returned to the ice to finish their two game series. The Engineers again came out strong. At the 6:45 mark of the first period, Rice stripped a UMass-Boston defender of the puck along the end boards to the left of the goal. She sent a pass to Rabatin in the slot, who took a shot that just found the inside of the right post to put RPI up 1-0.
Four minutes later, senior Allie Cooper kept a Beacon clearing attempt in the zone along the blue line and sent a pass to Welte. Welte skated across the middle and fired a shot that beat Boucher.
Aho put the Engineers up 3-0 30 seconds later with a power play goal off an assist from freshman Kelly Barbera.
Late in the first, the Beacons tried to get on the scoreboard when Melissa Belmonte shuffled a pass to Katie Hurley who was in front of the net. Hurley directed a shot toward Schiff, but the puck hit the crossbar and fell in front of Schiff who covered it.
In the second period, Welte recorded her second goal of the game at the 13:43 mark. While on the power play, senior Meredith Langille sent a pass from behind the net to Welte, who was in the slot. Welte took a shot that Beacon goalie Maggie Carmany blocked. The puck bounced to Sarah Daniel, who tried to shoot, but the puck slid off her stick to Welte who was still in front. This time Welte didn’t miss, as she slid the puck under Carmany to give the Engineers a 4-0 lead.
With four seconds left in the period, Thompson sent a pass behind the net to Aho who crisply delivered a pass to McNamara. McNamara fired a shot that beat Carmany’s far post and gave RPI a 5-0 lead after two periods.
Once again, Schiff’s shutout bid was stopped late in the third. With eight minutes left, Belmonte stripped senior Sondra Sherman of the puck in the neutral zone. Belmonte skated in alone on Schiff, faked a shot to the near post and pulled the puck to the far post and around Schiff for the goal.
Boucher recorded nine saves in one period of work and Carmany had 27 in two periods for UMass-Boston.
Schiff finished with 18 saves for RPI, who improves to 5-1-0 on the season and 5-0-0 in the Women’s ECAC Division III East conference.
The Engineers return to action this Friday and Saturday at the Houston Field House with a conference series against Salve Regina. The puck drops at 7 pm on Friday and 3 pm on Saturday. Rensselaer will finish their pre-Thanksgiving homestand on Tuesday with a non-conference match-up with Williams College at 7 pm.
